Thoughts on the Huion Kamvas Studio 16 (not a review)

Update: Full review is now up.

Let me start by saying that I do not have the Huion Kamvas Studio 16 and Huion is not sending out review units which I understand because this is so expensive at US $1699.

I'm writing my thoughts on this product based the photos and specifications from the product page.

Specs

• Display size: 15.8-inch IPS touchscreen LCD with matte texture
• Resolution: 2560 x 1440, 16:9 aspect ratio
• Brightness: 400 nits
• Colour support: 16.7 million (8 bit)
• Response time: 14ms
• Weight: 1.7kg
• Battery life: 6 hours
• Pen: PW550S Slim
• Stand: Kickstand + Huion ST200
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 (4 core 2.8Ghz)
• GPU: Intel Iris Xe
• RAM: 16GB DDR4
• Storage: 512GB
• Ports: 2x USB-C 3.2, 3.5mm audio jack
• OS: Windows 11

Price

Huion Kamvas Studio 16 is selling at US $1699.

To see if that's a reasonable price, we have to compare with other similar products, e.g. Microsoft Surface Pro 8 & 9, and M2 iPad Pro 12.9-inch.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 does not come with the Slim Pen 2 which is US $129, or $93 with discount. The pen charger is US $35. If you get the $179 Surface keyboard case, then the pen charger is no required. Surface Pro 8 is $300 cheaper since it's an older model now.

The Huion also comes with a standalone ST200 stand.

If you want to buy your own stand, I recommend Parblo PR100 which is US $39.

Other key differences would be the display size.

Huion Kamvas Studio 16 has a 15.8-inch display vs the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Pro, 14.6-inch Samsung Tab S8 Ultra and the 12.9-inch Pad Pro. Due to the 4:3 aspect ratio of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the short width is almost similar to the Huion Kamvas Studio 16 but the Huion is much wider. If what you want is a huge display, the Samsung Tab S8 Ultra is also worth considering.

Battery life for the tablets with Windows OS unfortunately is just 5-6 hours.

The last big difference is the OS. Windows OS is more versatile since it's a desktop OS. If you're getting a tablet mostly for drawing, the IPad Pro and Tab S8 Ultra are good. But if you want to do more than just drawing, e.g. graphic design, photo editing, posting to social media, Windows is more productive than iPadOS and Android. Windows has proper file management, external display support and loads of desktop software.

So overall, the price seems reasonable? But whether it's value for money really comes down to what you value.

Weight

The Huion tablet is 1.7kg without the keyboard. That's considered heavy for a tablet but considered reasonable when compared to laptops of similar sizes.

The only portability issue is the Huion tablet is a tabletop tablet. It's not something you can hold easily with one hand for drawing regardless of whether the tablet is on the table or your lap.

Touchscreen

The Huion tablet supports 10-point capacitive touch.

Windows OS support for touch gesture isn't as good compared to iPad or Android in my opinion.

One common issue I have is with the panel that slides out from the bottom right. When drawing, my resting palm may occasionally pull the panels in. I also have to move the taskbar to the top to minimise my palm accidentally pressing on any buttons but that's much less of an issue.

Display

The display is 15.8-inch IPS LCD with 1440P resolution. Visuals should look sharp from one arm's distance away. The size is big for comfortable use and UI elements will look big too.

Response time of 14ms means there should not be any visible ghosting or image retention.

Colour support is 16.7 million colours (8 bit). Huion advertised QLED technology and said there's 100% AdobeRGB coverage

Contrast ratio 1200:1 seems fine.

The display is laminated and has a matte textured drawing surface. In other words, the display is not glossy and will provide a tactile drawing experience. So no matte screen protector is needed.

Brightness is listed as 400 nits. In real life, brightness is usually 20% lower so 300+ nits actual brightness is still good. I use my desktop monitor at 150 nits but tablets usually require higher brightness to look better.

It is possible to use this tablet as an external display to your other computers. You can install the free MiraCast wireless display adapter on the Huion tablet and you can use this as an external display for other Windows computer. If you have a Mac, you can use Duet Display.

Pen

The PW550S supports tilt and 8192 levels of pressure. It's not power by battery so no charging is required.

The recent pens from Huion, e.g. PW517, are using Huion PenTech 3.0 and have pretty good drawing performance. The pens are accurate and sensitive so I expect the same drawing performance with the PW550S.

Processor

The Intel Core i7-1165G7 is a 4-core process at 2.8Ghz. I've reviewed many tablets and laptops in 2021 with this processor and Intel Iris Xe and they are all more than powerful enough to run drawing and graphic design apps. Photo editing should work fine too.

The only areas where you may experience lag is with generating thumbnails after importing photos. Switching between photos in Adobe Lightroom Classic may have that split second delay, but edits will appear instantly.

This tablet is not meant for video editing and is not targeted at video editors.

Battery life

Battery capacity is 58Wh and battery life is rated to last for 6 hours continuous use. Real world usage should get you 5-6 hours battery life.

Battery life has always been the downside for Windows devices. Considering this tablet is much heavier than the SP8 and SP9, I would have expected Huion to fit a larger battery.

There is 65W fast charging and is advertised to fully charge the tablet in 2 hours.

Ports

There are only two USB-C 3.2 ports.

If you use one USB-C port for charging, you'll only be left with just one USB-C port left.

If you're thinking of using this as your main computer, I highly recommend you get a USB-C dock. Getting a Thunderbolt dock is an overkill since this tablet does not support Thunderbolt.

Compared to the Microsoft Surface Pro

The Microsoft Surface Pro has removeable SSD but the Huion does not. There's also an extra port for the charger.

The Microsoft Surface Pen and Slim Pen 2 have issues with line tapers -- lines are not able to taper smoothly and sharply compared to pen displays and iPads.

I've had the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 and 8 and both had display flickering issues. I was able to get them exchanged under warranty but I don't have confidence the Surface Pro tablets have truly fixed the problem. After 8 generations and they still have the display flickering problem? Seriously?

What's the main selling point of the Kamvas Studio 16?

In my opinion, it's the combination of a huge 15.8-inch display and Windows OS that's the main selling point here.

If you already have a computer, then it may make more sense to get the iPad Pro or Samsung Tab S8 Ultra. If you really want the larger display, then 14.6-inch Samsung Tab S8 Ultra is a good option at just US $1099 which is obviously more affordable than the iPad Pro and Kamvas Studio 16. The other option is to get a normal pen display if you don't need the portability and that will save you even more money. The Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) is just US $599 but that does not have a touchscreen.

If you don't have a computer or you're thinking of upgrading your computer, it is possible to use the Kamvas Studio 16 as your main computer. Sure the 11th gen Intel processor isn't the latest 12th gen but that does not mean it's not a powerful processor. The 11th gen Intel processor is still more than powerful enough for drawing and graphic design work. You will have a portable computer but the battery life is just 5-6 hours.

Repairability

You should also think about repairability.

The Huion Kamvas Studio 16 comes with a 1 year warranty. Should there be any issues and you have to send the unit back, you will have to pay expensive shipping fees as this tablet is heavy to ship. Huion return policy says that shipping fees will be refunded if the item is faulty and returned within the 1 year warranty.

Note that in Singapore, SingPost cannot ship items more than 2kg overseas so you will have to rely on DHL, Fedex or other delivery providers which may be even more expensive.